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Producer and multi-instrumentalist Ben Marc, a key figure at the leading edge of the UK jazz scene, has just shared a follow up to his September’s Breathe Suite EP (roundly praised by NPR, The Wire, The Guardian, and more) and subsequent single “Way We Are” with another bespoke song that continues to hint at more work to come in 2022. Out today, “Give Me Time” features a stuttering drum beat, off-kilter clapping and lilting string arrangements that provide the perfect backdrop for its urgent and sometimes haunting vocals sung by Judi Jackson - - “Everyone needs more time. Time to heal!”
Marc, the alias of Neil Charles, has quite the musical pedigree. While studying classical double bass at the prestigious Trinity College of Music in London, Marc had a chance meeting with Gary Crosby, linchpin of Tomorrow’s Warriors (the crucial London jazz educators that connect the UK new wave luminaries, from Nubya Garcia to Moses Boyd) after which the possibility of jazz shone like a beacon. This began a game-changing journey that led him to play with the jazz group Empirical and then to form the free-jazz trio Zed-U, alongside Shabaka Hutchings (Sons of Kemet, The Comet is Coming) and drummer Tom Skinner, whose collaborations ignited a new passion in Marc for electronic music, soaking in the sounds of garage, broken beat, and drum’n’bass. Marc’s new solo music has unified these influences into a sublime whole.
Mapache — the “quintessentially laid-back” (UNCUT) Los Angeles-based duo of Sam Blasucci and Clay Finch whose “angelic harmonies weave between traditional folk and modern cosmic country music” (FLOOD) — release their new covers project 3 via Innovative Leisure. A tenderly crafted tribute to beloved music from past legends and admired contemporaries, 3 is a showcase for the seemingly effortless, unmistakably Californian musicality that has quickly become Mapache’s signature.
Created in the midst of the pandemic shutdown that interrupted the touring of their 2020 album From Liberty Street, 3 emerged after Sam and Clay hunkered down with their close friend and record producer Dan Horne (Beachwood Sparks, Cass McCombs, Allah-Las) and began to work on vulnerable reinterpretations on some of their favorite songs. There are tributes to acknowledged classics — including a sun-dappled and swaying take on Stevie Wonder’s “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” and a romantically unhurried version of Sade’s “All About Our Love” — as well as inventive spins on songs by Allah-Las and Aussie psych-rockers Babe Rainbow.
The performances on 3 embody exactly what makes Mapache’s music so intoxicating: close harmonies, masterful musicianship, and a unique ability to tap into the innate vibrations of a song and tease out its moments of wonder. It’s a welcoming record that posits deep, thoughtful listening as the greatest means of escape.
Listen to 3 here: https://smarturl.it/mapache3
Rarelyalways shares his top 10 with Dummy magazine. Top of the list is his new single "Birds Eye" feat. Subculture.